


The Odd Couple

by theladyscribe



Series: Hockey WIP Amnesty [5]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Ovechkin is a Penguin, Gen, M/M, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-12 22:06:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12969396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyscribe/pseuds/theladyscribe
Summary: Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin start their rookie season in 2005 as Penguins – Penguins forever, they promise each other.





	The Odd Couple

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in a world in which the Caps’ and Pens’ 2004 draft picks were switched so Ovi went first to the Pens and Geno went second to the Caps. Everything else stayed the same, so the lockout still happened and Sid was still drafted by the Penguins. (The Caps, among many, were mightily cheesed that the Pens got two number one picks in a row because of the lockout.)
> 
> If it seems familiar, I originally posted parts of this to tumblr.

Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin start their rookie season in 2005 as Penguins – Penguins forever, they promise each other. Evgeni Malkin is stuck in Magnitogorsk for another year, angry and frustrated because Sasha, his sometimes friend, sometimes enemy, is playing the best hockey in the world, rookie winger to the rookie center, lighting up the entire eastern division, even as the rest of their team is struggling.

The media hates both Crosby and Ovechkin. Ovechkin is too flashy, too loud, too Russian, and Crosby is too quiet, too bland, too Canadian for a sport trying its damnedest to win back the meager US fans it had in this post-lockout world. Ovechkin may get the worst of the hot takes, but Crosby takes the brunt of it on the ice. It’s brutal, to be superstars on a dying team.

There are attempts to pit the two of them against each other, to cast it as the “Clash of the Titans,” the team’s failings pinned on the two rookies who just want to play hockey. It makes them both angry, but there’s nothing to be done about it, no way to convince the media or the fans or even the opposing teams that no, really, they get along just fine, even as their stats rise and their tandem on the ice is _breath-taking_.

*

Nobody expected it, least of all Sid, but he and Alex are actually really good friends. They’re not besties (though Alex likes to claim they are), but they do hang out together outside of work, and they even talk about things that are unrelated to hockey.

Alex is one of the first people outside of Sid’s family to be told that he’s gay. Sid isn’t completely sure how Alex will react -- he’s generally pretty easy-going, and Sid’s never heard him say anything completely horrible about gay people, but he’s still Russian, and Sid knows they’re a lot more conservative about this kind of stuff than his family -- but Alex just looks at him, like he’s trying to see if Sid is making a joke.

“Explains why you never hook up,” Alex says after an extended moment.

Sid blushes, but he doesn’t try to refute it.

Alex grins. “Now I know, we find you nice boy, Sid.” His grin turns wicked, and Sidney regrets his choices already.

*

When Alex first proposes that Sidney move in with him, Sidney thinks he’s joking. Their rookie season is coming to a close, and a string of games where Coach Therrien has been switching up their lines means the media has decided they’re in a tiff. It’s stupid, but every time Sid gets interviewed, he’s asked about the line changes and whether he’s having trouble getting along with Ovechkin. Sid tries to explain that they’re not fighting, it’s just end-of-season line changes, but no one seems to hear it.

“Come be my roommate,” Alex says out of the blue, as they’re stripping down after practice. “My mama cooks us food, fatten you up. You too skinny. And –” Alex grins toothily “– it make the media talk.”

“No thanks,” Sidney says at first, not really interested in making the media talk any more than they already are.

Alex puts a hand over his heart. “Ah! Sidney Crosby, you wound me!”

Sid doesn’t know where Alex learned that phrase, but it’s especially hard to take him seriously when he’s using it while half-dressed. “I think you’ll live,” Sidney says, and he turns back to stripping his gear.

He gets poked in the shoulder and glances up to see Alex in front of him still. “You think about it though? We make good roommates.”

Sidney sighs. “I’ll think about it,” he says, sure that’s the only way he’ll get Alex to leave him alone long enough to get out of his skates.

*

Sidney moves his things from Mario’s guest apartment into Alex’s house at the end of the season before he goes back to Nova Scotia for the summer.

They don’t actually tell anyone in the media about it until training camp starts, and even though the local papers run the obligatory “ODD COUPLE – WHO IS MAX AND WHO IS FELIX?” stories, it’s buried under the much bigger story of the summer – Evgeni Malkin’s Escape From Russia to the Capitals.

The Penguins don’t play the Capitals until December that year, which gives everyone plenty of time to dust off those “CLASH OF THE TITANS” headlines, refashioned to pit Ovechkin and Crosby against Evgeni Malkin, the Russian Bear, who is already a shoe-in for the Calder.

The Penguins win it in a shootout, and after the game, Alex insists that Sidney go with him to meet up with “Zhenya,” whoever that is.

Zhenya turns out to be Malkin, who didn’t score, but assisted on two of Washington’s goals. He looks sullen, and Sidney isn’t sure that he wants to be here, but Malkin perks up a little after Alex talks to him in Russian for a little while. They go to Malkin’s house, since Alex is the only one of the three of them legally old enough to drink here, where Malkin reheats soup and dumplings and banters back and forth with Alex.

Sidney sits quietly for most of the conversation, unable to follow the Russian conversation. Alex translates sometimes, but he forgets. Sidney lets it wash over him, replaying the game in his head and thinking about how good his life is right here, right now.

He must drift off, because a hand on his knee startles him awake. He looks up to Malkin frowning curiously at him and asking a question in Russian.

“He say you stay the night if you want,” Alex translates.

Sidney shakes his head and stands up. “No, no. Thanks, but we should get back to the hotel.”

Alex says something to Malkin and laughs. “We go now.” He hugs Malkin and kisses his cheeks, saying his goodbyes in Russian.

Sidney doesn’t know whether he should hug Malkin too, or shake hands, or – Malkin decides for him, hugging him but not kissing him. “Good night,” he says in heavily accented English.

“Thanks,” Sidney says. “I had a good time. Good night.”

Malkin sees them out the door, giving them a dorky wave just as their cab drives away.

"What you think?" Alex asks, poking Sidney in the side.

"What do I think of what?"

"Zhenya, of course."

Sidney shrugs. "He seems nice enough, for a Capital." He glances over at Alex, whose smile glints in the street lights.

"I knew you'd like him," Alex says, looking entirely too satisfied for Sidney's comfort.


End file.
